Pacific Coast Business Times – May 29, 2009

“Ultimately we’re focused on doing something that enriches the community using a system based on abundance instead of scarcity,” said Tyler Suchman, one of group’s core members. “A lot of people in the Ojai community have explored the different components and ideas around what a local economy means.”

The particulars haven’t been nailed down yet, but the group said the new system would consist of bartering and an ultra-local currency to encourage and support area business. The city would still accept U.S. dollars at the least.The unorthodox initiative has already generated a lot of buzz since it was introduced in February, and Suchman said the group’s next step will be examining how to create an infrastructure for the organization.

“Dealing with financial systems can be really complex, and when you’re looking at things like local currency, it takes a fair amount of architecture for those systems to be usable,” Suchman said. “There’s a long way to go, but the response has been really great.”